Progression of an SPS Tank

[Aquattro]

I always enjoy looking back over the years to see how the tank progresses. Here's the last three years from inception

2011
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd101/reef_raf/FTS_12_10.jpg

2012
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd101/reef_raf/fulltank.jpg

2013
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd101/reef_raf/FTS2013_Jan_zps9800a286.jpg

Now
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd101/reef_raf/Full_2014_zpsc4a5193e.jpg

[Reef Pilot]

That is very, very, very awesome, Brad!! How the heck could you ever think of selling all that beautiful coral?

[Aquattro]

That is very, very, very awesome, Brad!! How the heck could you ever think of selling all that beautiful coral?

Thanks. Selling is a just a whim/mood thing, I doubt I could ever find a buyer. But with the recent floods and fires and electrocutions, and being so busy with other stuff, that mood strikes me more and more.
I have a vision for a different (smaller) tank, but for now, I'm stuck with this. :)

[Proteus]

Nice shots brad.

I can understand you wanting to start over. The build and growth is part.of.the fun

What kind of tank are you invisoning

[BlueTang<3]

Wow looks great at what point did I switch to led ?

Any major equipment changes or you stayed steady throughout.

How did that queen fair in your Sps tank?

[Aquattro]

I can understand you wanting to start over. The build and growth is part.of.the fun

What kind of tank are you invisoning

No, the build and growth part sucks :) Just kinda bored with it, and annoyed at a few things. The noise from my inline frag tank drove me insane, so now that it's gone, I'm happier.
I was thinking more towards a 90g cube with just a few select pieces, but that's just a concept at this point. I figure since I can hardly sell a frag in this town, selling the whole collection isn't going to happen -lol

Although, the tank hasn't annoyed me in about 48 hours, so not too motivated to sell (today).

I fixed the leak, got rid of some noise and mopped up most of the water that I can reach. I will have a flooring project once this tank goes though :)

[mrhasan]

Everyone's saying how awesome you tank is but I would like to be the first person to say how awesome those egg crates look :razz:

[Aquattro]

Wow looks great at what point did I switch to led ?

Any major equipment changes or you stayed steady throughout.

How did that queen fair in your Sps tank?

The first 2 shots are MH, third is LED and the last is T5. Other than that, and some reworking of rockscape in the center, nothing else changes.

The queen was great in there, but died in the velvet outbreak incident. I replaced her with another, but that one nipped every coral in the tank.

The Emperor is great though, and I like him more than the queen.

[Aquattro]

Everyone's saying how awesome you tank is but I would like to be the first person to say how awesome those egg crates look :razz:

Don't even go there!! I can't even recall why I used it, but it was a dumb idea, whatever it was.

[BlueTang<3]

I haven't been following the site too much as of late you switched from led back to t5

I think about that daily but thought I was crazy

[Aquattro]

I haven't been following the site too much as of late you switched from led back to t5

I think about that daily but thought I was crazy

It was a good move, over all happy with it. I do miss the dimming effects, but overall the tank looks better and the corals show more color. If you look closely at the last two pics, you can see the difference in the light. The LED shows separation even in photos.

[BlueTang<3]

I figured I noticed it, overall looks better in the last shot.

What size number of bulbs did you decide to go with.

I had the 8x80 w ati power module on my old tank and it grew/coloured up stuff crazy.

Led I need to play with more colouring but I seem to have a bunch of brown blaw corals no pop.

[Aquattro]

I figured I noticed it, overall looks better in the last shot.

What size number of bulbs did you decide to go with.

I had the 8x80 w ati power module on my old tank and it grew/coloured up stuff crazy.

Led I need to play with more colouring but I seem to have a bunch of brown blaw corals no pop.

I'm using the same fixture, 5' power module 8x80w. It really brings out colors that didn't show with the LED.

[BlueTang<3]

Cool, only problem I have is I would need 2 and bulb changes would kill.

Interested in how long u have ran your bulbs or plan to, I had purchased a par meter and could get 2 years from bulbs before then dropped 10 percent but after a couple months the colour spectrum changed drastically

[Aquattro]

Cool, only problem I have is I would need 2 and bulb changes would kill.



Compared to LED, the price of the fixture and one set of bulbs leaves me enough money for 8-10 years of bulb changes compared to the one time cost of LED purchase.
I also heard that the guy that bought my LEDs already had one burn out. Not even 2 years old. So not sure LED would last 10 years.
And honestly, 90% of people in the hobby will shut down long before realizing the savings of not replacing bulbs.
I will probably replace bulbs every 9 months. I'll know closer to that time frame as this is my first run with T5.

[Proteus]

Now that you have had the t5 over the water long enough to color up coral. Do you still prefer the halides (color wise)

[Aquattro]

Now that you have had the t5 over the water long enough to color up coral. Do you still prefer the halides (color wise)

Absolutely. If I had a way to manage humidity, I'd still run the Radium 400w bulbs.

[wreck]

Thabks for sharing tthetime lapse photos!!. Really inspiring to see bare tank turn full!!.

[Doug]

Just beautiful Brad. :thumb:

[Snappy]

Don't even go there!! I can't even recall why I used it, but it was a dumb idea, whatever it was.
Very nice Brad! Yeah I was also going to ask about the eggcrate in the sandbed & the reasoning behind it. I'll bet your wrasses got a headache at bed time for the first while :lol:

[Coralgurl]

Beautiful tank!! Very inspiring for sure! I'm sure I've read you just keep up with water changes....any dosing or special maintenance?

[Dez]

Thanks for sharing. Always nice to see mature SPS tanks. All the best for this reefing year.

[mrhasan]

Beautiful tank!! Very inspiring for sure! I'm sure I've read you just keep up with water changes....any dosing or special maintenance?

I think Brad's occasional threat to the corals being sent to new homes keeps the corals well behaved. Good that the corals don't use canreef otherwise they wouldn't be listening to him :razz:

[Aquattro]

Very nice Brad! Yeah I was also going to ask about the eggcrate in the sandbed & the reasoning behind it. I'll bet your wrasses got a headache at bed time for the first while :lol:

Honestly Greg, it's the dumbest thing I've ever done in a tank build. No good reason at all that I can recall.

[Aquattro]

Beautiful tank!! Very inspiring for sure! I'm sure I've read you just keep up with water changes....any dosing or special maintenance?

Thanks. No, I run full Zeovit, but by "run" I mean I own the stuff. I bought 12 bags of rock LAST boxing day and still have 8 left. I dose the drops max once per week. Other than that, I keep the Ca reactor sort of tuned, and change 50g every 2 weeks.

[christyf5]

Looking great as usual Brad. Kind of inspiring to get me going again. LOL, I was just thinking about my zeo and couldn't remember the last time I changed the rocks. Then I realized I never have since I started it up. Smrt. :razz:

[Aquattro]

I was just thinking about my zeo and couldn't remember the last time I changed the rocks. Then I realized I never have since I started it up. Smrt. :razz:

I change mine a little more often than that -haha

Maybe you need to head down with that cooler?

[Aquattro]

So Dez has inspired me with his pics, and I'm going to do some serious thinning of the right side tower.
If anyone in Vic sees anything they like on that side, let me know via PM.

[Cujo#31]

Geez dude. U r wanting to dismantle what alot of us are trying to get to. LMAO. I totally get the occasional bout of "annoyed" and the "bored" thing, but that is what is so awesome about this hobby. If there were no challenges and the approach was effortless then there is no reward.
I really like this hobby because it is so personal with every person. And hell, if I wanted easy.....I'd pick up needlepoint. You can just go total rebuild and re design, u can go very simple or u can go for "blow your friggin mind" intense, totally up to u.

[Aquattro]

Geez dude. U r wanting to dismantle what alot of us are trying to get to.

But once you get there, then what? :) Now I have a tangled mess of corals that are starting to kill the lower areas. I have one large dead colony underneath that whole right side that I can't even get to.

So this weekend I'm going to thin it out and rework some of the coral placement. I even found colonies I didn't know I had while looking down from the top rear!! It's time to clean up :)

[Reef Pilot]

So Dez has inspired me with his pics, and I'm going to do some serious thinning of the right side tower.
If anyone in Vic sees anything they like on that side, let me know via PM.
After looking at your current FTS again, I like how your right side looks. That greater density provides some nice contrast and diversity to the rest of the tank. In fact, I would have a hard time wanting to change anything. It is what I would want my tank to look like some day.

So, you might get a little warfare,... but as long as it is hidden and no big casualties, who cares.

[Cujo#31]

But once you get there, then what? :) Now I have a tangled mess of corals that are starting to kill the lower areas. I have one large dead colony underneath that whole right side that I can't even get to.

So this weekend I'm going to thin it out and rework some of the coral placement. I even found colonies I didn't know I had while looking down from the top rear!! It's time to clean up :)

That is the beauty of it all. Almost like leggo. Build it, play with it fro a while, take it apart, re build it. Once u have all the pieces (and it sure looks like u do) then it is alot easier and more fun.

[Aquattro]

The rest of the tank has been "reworked" earlier, so that's why the right side looks more dense, it's never been touched. But I've lost a couple pieces in the mess, one milli is completely dead on the bottom half, the large cap is dying, and up close, it's just too tightly packed.
I think that while it will look like crap after thinning, in a year it will be even nicer than it is now, while giving room to the remaining colonies to grow properly.
I'll post some pics of the growth as I dismantle it, I have a couple stags in there that are growing like bunches of asparagus -lol

[Reef Pilot]

But I've lost a couple pieces in the mess, one milli is completely dead on the bottom half, the large cap is dying, and up close, it's just too tightly packed.

Yeah, can't see that from the pic. Still looks good to me as is. If anything, I might fill in some parts at the bottom with low light bright coloured corals (like maybe some cyphastreas).

[Myka]

Nice Brad, I've enjoyed watching your lighting soap opera. :p It sure looks a lot different than when I saw it in...2010??

[Dez]

I'm kind of with Brad on this one :). Short term "loss" long term gain. Think about it, is there ever going to be a chance for all 100 or so of those corals to grow to bigger colonies in that tank? No. Although it might be at it's "sweet spot" now, it will just keep getting worse. The top half of the tank will continue getting more gorgeous, especially from the top down, but everything underneath suffers. The top corals form an umbrella over the rest of the tank. The sides of the corals will start to lose colour due to less light, the growth pattern will change drastically due to reduced flow because of the large corals blocking it. The sweet spot in my tank was in 2010-early 2011, then the crazy growth cause the umbrella effect I was talking about. I removed a dozen colonies that had to be broken in order to even fit into 5 gallon pails. It didn't look as great at first, but I think my tank is reaching another "sweet spot". Half the fun for me is watching the corals grow. If your tank stays in it's glory forever, you as the owner will be completely bored of it. I was super bored of my tank in 2011 and it was almost more work pruning almost on a daily basis to keep the coral warfare down. I guess my vision for the next couple of years is to see how big I can get my colonies? I went from almost 100 sps species now to about 20. I'm imagining maybe 5 colonies down the road? Brad's got 3 options. 1. Let it do it's thing. Results, more corals dying and suffocating at the bottom. Tank will look top heavy, lower half will lose colour. 2. Keep prying on a regular basis. Results - annoying, he has trouble getting rid of frags in Vic, it won't look as natural. 3. Clean up and remove colonies. Results - will look "bare" at first, might regret a little, but corals will be healthier due to more room to grow, more light and more flow cause the flow isn't blocked by other corals. Long term results will def look more natural.

I used to ogle at the "fruit stand" type reefs. But you can essentially "buy" your way into one by purchasing as many colonies as you can and arranging them. But you can never buy 18" colonies or 14" clams.

Sorry for the rant. In short Brad - DO IT UP and I look forward to the 2015 update!!!!

[Dez]

Option 4. Sell everything and start over. :). That's half the fun! Haha

[lastlight]

Your tank has never looked better (and it looks incredible). I'd hate to have to tear a bunch of that sexy out of there but you surely need to. You've got even more room in there than Dez to grow out a few monstrous colonies.

[Aquattro]

Option 4. Sell everything and start over. :). That's half the fun! Haha

Not an option in Vic unfortunately, so I'll go with option 3. I think I have enough people lined up to take most of what I'm removing. Although I may get carried away and who knows what will happen -lol

Ya, it will look like ****e for a few months, but options 1 and 2 both end poorly. So this will hopefully give me an even nicer 2015 tank.

[Proteus]

Need a rebuild thread

[Aquattro]

Need a rebuild thread

I may get a couple of pics of the carnage, we'll see how it goes :)

[Delphinus]

Nice stuff..

[Rice Reef]

And so it has begun... Here is Brad going over the details ...
http://i406.photobucket.com/albums/pp148/hockeyguy1999/7A8B33EF_zps8fc827f0.jpg

Trying to find the starting point...
http://i406.photobucket.com/albums/pp148/hockeyguy1999/9ACD7DC7_zpsc0e88c86.jpg
http://i406.photobucket.com/albums/pp148/hockeyguy1999/B883814E_zps12882c90.jpg

First colony to come out...
http://i406.photobucket.com/albums/pp148/hockeyguy1999/D9E387C7_zpsa3b9063c.jpg

Brad trying to get his pythons in there...
http://i406.photobucket.com/albums/pp148/hockeyguy1999/1256FE3E_zpsb6f646d4.jpg
http://i406.photobucket.com/albums/pp148/hockeyguy1999/14C886B2_zps763033e4.jpg

Finally!!! With Todd drooling....

http://i406.photobucket.com/albums/pp148/hockeyguy1999/D97D74C9_zps0200fefc.jpg
http://i406.photobucket.com/albums/pp148/hockeyguy1999/7E90E9BE_zpsc5702d59.jpg

Next...
http://i406.photobucket.com/albums/pp148/hockeyguy1999/685EF3F3_zpsf8e77579.jpg
http://i406.photobucket.com/albums/pp148/hockeyguy1999/FCB53109_zps729c56cc.jpg

Well that is it for now... I had to leave early so hope others will add more later...
( I did not know that there were so many people interested in SPS in Victoria... Finally coming out of the closet...)

[gregzz4]

Looking at pics of a 6' tank just doesn't sink in :wink:

I had no idea how big your colonies were until I saw you in the shots :surprise:

[Aquattro]

Here's the post apocalypse shot :)

http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd101/reef_raf/after_zpsc4f3044a.jpg

[Proteus]

Did u just keep a select few pieces or frags from all

Give It. Month or two itll be great again

[BlueTang<3]

So that's what brad looks like... I had always pictured you differently, who needs the gym when u can curl those colonies.

[Aquattro]

Did u just keep a select few pieces or frags from all



Ya, I kept a piece of most of what was removed.

[Aquattro]

who needs the gym when u can curl those colonies.

lol, looking at those pics, I need the gym to work off XMas :)

[gregzz4]

Here's the post apocalypse shot :)


Wow, that's a lot of pruning

I wish I was closer so I could get some pieces of that stuff
You have some awfully great colonies

[H2o2]

Next summer when I am at the shipyard again would love to get some more frags and maybe a piece of that hammer if possible. The rescape really looks great

[Aquattro]

The rescape really looks great

Nope, that's not the rescape :) I just removed the rest of that side and added different rock. I'll post a rescape pic tomorrow.

[Rice Reef]

Brad, thanks again for the fragment of pink lemonade... How did the rest of the afternoon go? Wish I coulda stay longer.:biggrin:

[Aquattro]

Wow, that's a lot of pruning

I wish I was closer so I could get some pieces of that stuff
You have some awfully great colonies

Head over, I'll fix ya up. Still feeling a bit bad about that window incident :razz:

[Aquattro]

Brad, thanks again for the fragment of pink lemonade... How did the rest of the afternoon go? Wish I coulda stay longer.:biggrin:

Wayne, everything came out really nice, just removed the whole rest of that side and got some new rock from Todd. I'll have a whole new look tomorrow night.

[wreck]

Nicely done brad. The colony in that pic was huge! Cant wait to see new scape!!

[SanguinesDream]

:eek:

That is an embarassment of riches right there, I tell you what. Wow, you've set the bar pretty high with that FTS this New Years. Enjoy the rebuild.:biggrin:

[gregzz4]

Head over, I'll fix ya up. Still feeling a bit bad about that window incident :razz:
If I ever make it onto the Island again I'll definately be stopping by, but not for freebies
The window thing is long in the past and was never a sore spot anyway

But it's fun to talk about so don't expect it to go away :lol:

Any new pics yet ?

[Aquattro]

never a sore spot anyway



looked sore at the time -lol

No, haven't got a pic yet, been too tired (lazy) to get it done. :)

[Aquattro]

Ok, pics

Here is the new right side..

http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd101/reef_raf/finalright_zps7ba0238e.jpg

vs the still crowded center piece

http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd101/reef_raf/center_zpsfd3a1f7c.jpg

[gregzz4]

looked sore at the time -lol
To be honest, the needles into the open wound for stitching were no fun :surprise: , but I was just a kid
I had a broken hand set without freezing as an adult and, meh, whatever

I think the real sore spot came from the parents :rolleyes:

[don.ald]

Looks good Brad. Nice cleanup
R.

[Aquattro]

Looks good Brad. Nice cleanup
R.

Thanks Rick. It's kinda sad really, but it will grow quickly and a year from now, I'll have to do it again. And I have to stop buying corals :)

[gregzz4]

Your new right side makes me think I have a chance to catch up with you now

[Aquattro]

Your new right side makes me think I have a chance to catch up with you now

Yer on!! lol

[mseepman]

Brad your tank is beautiful! I think we all wish we had your problem of too much SPS success. That being said, it still looks damn fine! Hopefully, if I get out to the island this summer I can see the progress in person.

[H2o2]

Oh man please save the real crowded center piece fragging event until this summer I will be there then :-)

[Madreefer]

Looks awesome. I'm jealous

[Aquattro]

Brad your tank is beautiful! I think we all wish we had your problem of too much SPS success. That being said, it still looks damn fine! Hopefully, if I get out to the island this summer I can see the progress in person.

Thanks Mark. Let me know if you're over this way and you're more than welcome to drop in.

[Aquattro]

Oh man please save the real crowded center piece fragging event until this summer I will be there then :-)

Probably a bit early, but you're here enough that you'll likely be around next "event" :)

[Aquattro]

Looks awesome. I'm jealous

Bill, I saw your new tank, you'll be right behind me.

[Nuttyreefer]

Looks good in your tank now, not so crowded and my tank looks good too. Thank you: hope to be there for the next trimming, it was fun..lol ,so that, should be in 6 months right brad.

[Bblinks]

Looking awesome as usual! So is this you build thread......

[Aquattro]

Looking awesome as usual! So is this you build thread......

Bit late for a build thread, me thinks :)

[tang daddy]

Haven't been on the other sub forums much, just stumbled on this and wow brad.... Good choice going back to t5, for colour and spread they can't be beat. Maybe I'd come out for a visit in the summer and check out your tank. Maybe even do a small tank tour and dinner on the island.

[Reefer Rob]

Thanks to Brad and Dez for the timely reminders on aqua-scaping an sps tank. It's so tempting to fill a tank with fancy rockwork, leaving no room for the corals to grow in. The artistic director and I are getting ready to scape my new tank tonight! Planning on having no rocks higher than 1/2 way up the tank.